Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution, age-standardized (per 100,000 population) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution is the number of deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in a year per 100,000 population. The rates are age-standardized. Following diseases are taken into account: acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages); cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); ischaemic heart diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (estimated above 25 years); and lung cancer in adults (estimated above 25 years).

Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

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Development Relevance: Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental risks to health. According to the World Health Organization, the combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause about 7 million premature deaths every year. Most deaths occur due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections. The majority of the burden is borne by populations in low and middle income countries.

Limitations and Exceptions: Estimates of the joint effects of air pollution are constrained by limited knowledge on the distribution of the population exposed to both household and ambient air pollution, correlation of exposures at individual level as household air pollution is a contributor to ambient air pollution, and non-linear interactions

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual